


Ghost of a memory

by armethaumaturgy



Category: Elsword (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, F/F, M/M, elesis fucking decimates els in one scene cheers for that, ghost!ain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-09-23 12:35:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9657737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/armethaumaturgy/pseuds/armethaumaturgy
Summary: Elsword never believed in spirits, in ghosts or demons or whatever. Well, at least not until he remembered.





	

Elsword never believed in spirits, in ghosts or demons or whatever. It did seem a little weird when his things moved to random places, though; like his textbooks being on the table even though he’d left them in his bag, or how they were out of cereal once and then a box just appeared while he was in the bathroom. There were countless examples, but they’re too numerous to be considered coincidences.

He spent so many hours on the net researching the occult, too scared to tell Elesis in fear that she — or Ara, for that matter — would think he is getting hallucinations.

Who knows, they might all have been, and that would’ve been a better thing than it being a demon possessing their home or something similar.

He’d read a whole lot of articles, found a lot of weird ones and a lot of real ones. Well, as real as they get, he supposed. Still, they gave him no answers and he wasn’t going to fuck around with an ouija board like an idiot.

He gets used to his bag being packed every morning, finding the covers up over his shoulders even though he’d kicked them away overnight. Small stuff. Nice stuff.

And then he starts having dreams.

Dreams of swords, of fights that last day on end, of a group of mismatched people. They laugh together, they travel together, they fight together. They’re friends.

He’s sure Elesis and Ara are there, but the others he doesn’t much remember.

There’s one person, though, he can never remember their face, not even how they look or dress. He can remember the green haired girl with her powerful attitude, the man with hair dark as night and tears of remorse, even the white haired boy with an asymmetrical scar, but never that one person.

What he can remember is their voice, just bits and pieces — how their voice echoed all the time, as if they were standing in the middle of a grand hall, decorated with stone statues and ornamented archways.

That is the one clear thing he has about the person, and usually, he can’t remember his dreams nor does he dwell on them or the people in them, but these dreams seem way too familiar, almost like memories from his childhood that he can’t remember fully, but still are at the back of his mind, tucked away in a corner.

And that person, with a voice unlike any other, seems too important to him, so why can he never remember them? If they feel so important, why are they nothing but a blur?

He doesn’t know.

He finds his bag packed the next morning and a breakfast waiting for him in the kitchen even though Elesis and Ara are still sound asleep in their room. The toast is still warm and exactly as he likes it.

“Thanks,” he whispers to to quiet kitchen, and only feels a little weird about it.

* * *

“You saved me,” the voice says.

Everyone is gone, it’s just him and the mysterious person inside a big cathedral, the walls lemmed with giant windows and dark stone. The person steps closer, much closer, and Elsword realizes they’re taller than him, by a great margin.

They’re a gentle presence, don’t invade on his space, instead seem to shadow him, cloak him like a warm blanket.

“Thank you, Elsword,” they say. The echoes make it seem so much louder than it is. “Without you, I’d be nothing but a trace…”

They turn around and start to walk away, their feet making no sound even with all the rubble on the floor.

Elsword reaches out, breath getting stuck in his throat. “Ai—”

 

He jerks awake.

“—n!”

His breath is labored as he gasps to regain it. Heart pounding and body shivering.

He rolls over, about to go back to sleep, but instead, he comes face to face with someone else. Yelling, Elsword scrambles up, feet kicking away the sheets without a care.

He falls off the side of the bed and lets out a yelp of pain.

“That’s dangerous,” comes a voice from the bed. It sounds so familiar, but it takes a long moment for Elsword to realize it’s the person from his dream, albeit without all the echoes. “You have to be more careful, Elsword.”

Slowly, with his heart still hammering, Els pulls himself up to peek at the bed. Sure enough, there’s a gray haired man laying on it, sprawled out like he owns the place.

Seeing his face, split into a giant smile, makes the memories flood back. All the times he’d spent with Ain, all the fighting they’d done alongside each other. Every kiss and every smile comes back to him.

“Ain,” he whispers softly, not even sure when tears had sprung into his eyes and started flowing down his cheeks.

Ain sits up to match him, peering over the edge. "You remembered.”

Elsword finally notices the transparency to his skin, the way he only seems half present and the door is visible through him. The door that opens with a loud thud, letting Elesis barge in, worry creasing her brow.

“Els!” she cries, “Are you okay? We heard screaming…”

“It’s okay, sis. Just had a nightmare and fell off the bed,”  Elsword tells her, picking himself up and looking at her sheepishly.

The worry falls off of her in a very visible sigh, shoulders dropping down. “Y'wanna sleep with us tonight?”

In the dark, Elesis can’t see Elsword’s cheeks going red, but Ain obviously can, because he starts snickering. He looks at Elesis with a twinge of panic, but she doesn’t seem to notice. “I’m fine, sis! Go back to bed!”

“Alright, alright, but you’re always welcome in our bed if you have nightmares. It’s just for pussies, after all.”

“Fuck you!” Elsword grumbles, grabbing and throwing a pillow at her, but by then she’s already out, snickering behind the door. The pillow hits it with a soft thud.

Then he turns back to Ain. The boy — ghost? — looks back at him.

“It was you,” Els mutters, still in disbelief. How is… Ain here? But beyond that, so much makes more sense now. All those little things, the packing, the breakfast, everything. Even now he knew Elsword’s routine; he must’ve been around for a long time. “You did all those things.”

“Yeah. But you couldn’t see me until you remembered me. But you… You thanked me. Yesterday, for the breakfast.”

“You did so much for me…” Els gulps, settling down onto the bed besides Ain. “Why are you…? I mean, why aren’t you…”

“Alive?” Ain grins, “Who knows. I guess the goddess planned it like this. I’ve been looking after you.”

And just like that, the tears are back and he’s sniffling into the sleeve of his pajama shirt. “You-You always have…”

* * *

“Do you want some?” Elsword asks as he shoves a piece of french toast into his mouth.

Ain’s answer is a look that’s worth thousands of words. “I’m a ghost,” he says, stating the obvious.

Els huffs, having enough conscience to finish chewing before speaking again. “I know, I know, thanks for reminding me. I just,”  the boy pauses, running a hand through his hair and pushing it out of his face. “I dunno, I feel bad that I’m the only one eating.”

Ain cocks his head, transparent elbow leaning on the table where he sits opposite of Elsword. “Then go wake up your sister.”

The redhead opens his mouth for a retort, but then closes it again. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

“Yeah, but it’s fine, really. I don’t have to eat, so you go on ahead and eat it all,” the ghost encourages him.

It doesn’t take much more for Elsword to gobble down the rest of the toast. “This is so bizarre. If I didn’t know you, you’d be a stalker.”

“But you do know me. Plus, aren’t all ghosts stalkers, technically? I could’ve done much worse things than make you breakfast.”

“But you didn’t.”

“I wouldn’t.”

The toast disappears completely and Els stands up, grabbing his bag. Then a thought strikes him while he puts on a jacket. “Hey, Ain,” he calls out, stopping in front of the main door. “Are you coming with me? Can you come with me?”

Ain laughs. “Do you think I’m bound to this house or something? You’ve read too many of those articles. I can go anywhere I want.”

Els stares at the ghost hovering a few feet off the ground, still propped up like he’s sitting at the table, leaning his elbows on thin air.

“Will you come with to school with me?”

He thinks Ain will laugh at his request, because how many people ask ghosts to follow them? But Ain doesn’t — and really, Ain had never laughed at him for anything before, so why would he now? Elsword feels silly for even thinking it.

“Sure,” Ain says, giving the boy a smile,  "I’ll go anywhere with you if you want me to.“

"E—ls? Who are you talking to?” comes a sleepy voice from the staircase. Elesis yawns, scratching at her tummy.

“No one, just a friend! I’m going now!” Elsword calls back, slinging his backpack on with a single arm.

“Okay, take care, kiddo.”

Elsword is out the doors before Elesis manages to get to the kitchen to make herself and the still-snoring Ara breakfast. Ain follows right after him as if swimming through the air. His movements are still just as graceful, ethereal — though that is to be expected, he’s a ghost, for fuck’s sake.

But no one else really seems to be able to see or hear him. Only Els.

There’s something oddly nice about that.

* * *

Ain seems totally at home at their place, knows exactly where everything is and even his and the girls’ routines. It’s surprising, but given that Ain has been sticking around for so long, it shouldn’t be.

Els still doesn’t know how to tell his sister about him.

‘Hey sis, an angel we’ve known in our past life is here and he’s a ghost now. Only I can see him too, so haha! Please don’t think I’m crazy.’

Yeah, sounds about right.

“How’s your homework coming along?” Ain pipes up from the bed; he’s sprawled on it, legs crossed as he reads one of the many books from Ara’s collection.

“You’re worse than my sis, of my god,” the redhead groans, dropping his head into his hands at the desk. “I’m terrible at this.”

“It’s math, right? Look over it one more time, you usually make a tiny mistake at the beginning.”

“And how do you know that?”

“There’s only so much I can do while not freaking you out if you can’t see me,” Ain explains, nonchalantly flipping a page of the book.

“Fair enough.”

Els pulls out his phone and puts on music — stuff he’d found on YouTube and compiled into a playlist, stuff he thought Ain would like.

He side eyes the ghost while turning the volume up. Ain’s reaction is delayed; he only looks up from his book after a few seconds of the piano notes, when the violins join in. He blinks at the boy.

“What are you doing?” he asks.

“Playing music.”

Ain is quiet for a moment, but he goes back to his reading, a smile curling his lips. He probably guessed what Elsword is doing.

Still, the music is nice, and Els does in fact find an error in the beginning of his math problem.

* * *

This isn’t how he imagined telling Elesis about Ain, but here he is, in the kitchen at eleven pm, arguing with the ghost about which Power rangers series is the best.

The ghost is almost finished with the book, laying in midair and propped against the wall.

Apparently they’re — he is — too loud, because Elesis comes downstairs and blocks the doorway as if to corner Els in.

“Elsword,” she says, he brows creased with worry. “We need to talk. You’ve been talking to yourself lately and… well… Are you okay?” Her voice is soft and careful.

Elsword’s shoulders sag, eyes looking over at Ain, who looks obviously distressed, shying away even though Elesis can’t see him.

Els sighs. “Sis, do you believe in ghosts…?”

The question seems to catch Elesis off guard, because she freezes and her worried look is painted over with a confused one instead. “I— What?”

“There’s a ghost here,” he brother says flatly, never sure how to address some things like this.  "His name is Ain and I knew him in a past life.“

"I— Els! Ghosts aren’t… real. I know you’ve been stressed from school and about parents, but isn’t this a bit too much..?”

Elsword looks at Ain, gives him a tiny smile. “Can you show you’re here?” he asks, eyes pleading.

“Uh… Sure.” Ain looks around for something to write on, and finally his eyes fall on the fridge. Elsword watches him float over and open it, taking out a bottle of ketchup.

Elesis squeaks rather un-Elesis-like, watching the ketchup bottle flying in the air. It’s uncapped and then pointed at the table.

Elsword has to admit Ain is surprisingly good at squirting liquids in a controlled manner. Words form on the surface of the table, but by the third, Elsword is clutching his stomach, body shaking with laughter.

'Ravioli ravioli, I’m here and also gay’

Looking at the neat cursive words, all Elesis can manage is a quiet 'same’. Elsword’s laughter is still ringing through the house.

Elesis just stands there until Els regains his composure. “You okay, bro?” she asks, opting to not point out the tears leaking from his eyes.

“Y—Yeah, I’m good. What about you? It’s a lot to take in health a ghost after all, but I swear, I swear he’s good. I know him, he's—”

“Okay.”

“—super— Uh… What?” Els stops, and Ain looks just as stunned as him.

“Okay,” Elesis repeats. “I trust you, bro. Plus he said he’s gay, so he’s good in my books.”

“I— thanks, sis. What about Ara, though? Isn’t she gonna freak out?” Elsword is completely flabbergasted at his sister’s apparent acceptance. Pleasantly flabbergasted, but flabbergasted nonetheless.

“That’s right, Ms. Fox had a spirit bound to her before,” Ain mutters.

Yeah, Elsword can remember that, can remember her hair going white and tails sprouting out, twining gracefully.

“She’s gonna think Ain is super fucking cool. She’s mentioned Eun or whatever on some occasions, so maybe they can be friends with Ain. Fuck, dude, just wash the goddamn table. I’m going back to bed,” she says, turning on her heel and going back upstairs.

“Well,” Elsword mutters when she’s gone, the bedroom door closing in the distance, “that went… much better than I expected.”

“Yes. I didn’t think she’d be open minded, especially since she doesn’t remember me,” Ain agrees.

“Yeah, but I’m not cleaning the table either,” Els states, turning around to go to his room, leaving Ain behind on grumpily take napkins from the box on the counter to wipe the ketchup away.

He still thinks his joke was funny.

* * *

The next morning, there are three plates sitting on the kitchen table: french toast and two stacks of pancakes. It’s probably the smell that wakes them all up, one after the other stumbling their way into the room.

Elsword takes a seat beside Ain, digging into the meal with a quiet 'thank you’ to the ghost.

Elesis takes a moment to look, noting that the kitchen isn’t even messy, a rare thing with the three of them.

“Huh,” she mumbles, “I could get used to this.” When she takes a bite out of the pancakes sitting on her plate, she perks up, eyes lighting up with a spark. “Delicious!”

Els watches as Ain takes a notebook from the counter — hey, it’s one of his, supposedly for physics class. Looks like it’ll finally get some use now. There’s also one of his pens that Ain uses to scribble on the paper.

Elesis eyes the floating notebook and pen warily, but when Ain turns it to her, it just reads 'good morning.’

“Why are you writing, Ain?” Elsword asks around a mouthful of toast.

“No one but you can see me, remember?” Ain replies, setting the pen and notebook back down. “And that’s better than using ketchup again, don’t you think? Though technically, I suppose they could see me if they remembered like you. But that seems farfetched to me.”

Ara finally joins them, a towel wrapped around her damp hair.

“Mm, good morning,” she mumbles, leaning down to kiss Elesis, tasting the maple syrup on her lips as a bonus. “Tastes great.”

“Ain made them,” Elsword tells her as Ara sits at her usual place beside Elesis.

“Ain?”

Ain grabs the notebook again. 'Good morning, Ms. Fox,’ he writes.

With a very exaggeratedly sounding but very real “ _Eep_!” Ara tumbles backwards in her chair. “He— He’s real?! I thought you were messing with me last night!”

Both the Sieghart siblings start laughing. Even Ain can’t help but hide his chuckles behind a hand.

“I can’t believe Elesis told her,” he admits. Then again, the fiery girl had always been as straightforward as they get.

With a gasp of realization, Elsword slams his hands onto the table, a bright and wide smile on his face. “That means I can speak to Ain all the time now! No need to hide anymore!”

The ghost seems to mull over the idea, as if he’d never thought of it before. “It’ll still be weird, since you look like you’re talking to yourself.”

“That doesn’t matter with no one around. And if there’s sis and Ara, I can just repeat what you say,” the boy says, his enthusiasm unwavering, “Or you can just use the pen and paper.”

“Y'know, I think I know what you’re talking about even with just your half,” Elesis pipes up, kneeling down to help Ara back up.

“Ah, Ain, we can’t do that in front of the girls!” Elsword drawls. Ain looks at him in confusion, since he didn’t say anything. Only when Elsword winks at him — slyly, with that little half-smirk of his — does he understand. “We have to save this for later, you can ravage me all night long~”

Ara’s cheeks go as red as Elesis’ hair. Elesis, on the other hand, just frowns.

“He’s a ghost, I don’t think you two could fuck even if you wanted to,” she notes. She’s used to her brother’s shenanigans, but Ara isn’t. The poor girl is covering her flaming cheeks, pretending to ignore the two of them.

“How can you know that we don’t want to? We’ll never know unless we try.”

Elsword looks at Ain, grin still very much in place. The ghost is still hovering there in silence, but looking at him closely, there seems to be less of a transparency to his face, even though it’s still just as pale.

“Elsword, stop it,” Ain tells him, “You’re making Ms. Fox upset.”

“Oh! No, she’s fine!” Elsword defends himself, because aside from feeling the shame he and Elesis should’ve felt instead, the dark haired girl is just fine.

Still, he drops the subject.

Ara, after calming down and smacking Elesis’ arm - “Why do you always do that? That’s not a thing to joke about!” - decides she wants to know more about Ain.

Elesis rubs her shoulder in an exaggerated fashion; not that Ara had hit her hard at all, just for the apologetic kiss she gets for it.

Elsword repeats back Ain’s answers to them, finding it faster than letting Ain scribble onto the paper. It’s all clear to the two of them, but to the girls, it seems to an utter, confusing mess.

Still, it’s not like they’re calling Els crazy, so it’s all good.

* * *

Ghosts — or spirits, if one prefers to use the correct terminology — don’t need sleep. Instead, Ain spends his nights watching over Els.

He lays next to the boy and watches as he rests, watches how the street lights pouring in from the outside cast shadows on his face; how his hair shifts only a little bit with his breathing; how his eyelids flutter when he’s so deep in the dream world or so close to waking up that it’s almost palpable; how he cocoons himself in his blanket or sleeps with it barely covering one of his legs.

Most night are peaceful, filled with only Elsword’s soft snores and the occasional half-awake trip to the bathroom, but some of them are bad, nights when Elsword tosses and turns, caught in the throes of a bad dream that won’t let go of him.

During those nights, Ain is there to run his hands through the boy’s hair, to hold him in his barely-tangible hold and whisper reassurances that either wake him up or calm the cold grasp of nightmares.

But never before had it been this bad. Elsword wakes up panting and wide eyed in his lap, sweat covering his face and chest heaving almost painfully.

He croaks out a whimper, choked out and pained, and grips at Ain’s top, _grips_ the noncorporeal fabric in his shaking hands like it’s real.

He clings to the ghost, buries his face in the crook of his transparent neck, and Ain can feel him, can _feel_ the droplets of tears that don’t fall through him, but roll down his shoulder.

For the first time in countless years, Ain feels real. Elsword is making him feel real again, just like all those years ago.

“Elsword,” he whispers, arms wrapping around the boy and holding him as close as he can. “Elsword, it’s okay. It’s alright, it was just a dream, you’re okay now.”

“No!” Elsword gasps, his hands tightening even further where they cling to the back of Ain’s top, nails digging into the ghost, but not _through_ him. “Ain, I… saw it…” he mumbles, “How you disappeared…”

Ain sighs, carding a hand through Elsword’s hair in hopes of calming him down. “That happened a long, long time ago,” he says, although he can still remember it vividly.

The day Elsword died, and there was nothing to keep Ain from vanishing out of existence without fulfilling his goal. He still hasn’t completed it, but the energy of El had scattered even further over the years, until nothing remained of it and he could never finish his mission anymore.

The Goddess had abandoned him, the one who disobeyed her orders and got close to humans, who embraced the power of humanity’s emotions instead of the Goddess’ creation power.

But not even that mattered anymore, when he felt Elsword’s presence, lighting up the bleak void and nothingness where he’d been stuck again. He followed it, followed the vague feeling of warmth until the blues and purples fades into green trees and colorful houses.

“I’m back now,” he tells Elsword, softly and gently placing a kiss onto the crown of his head. “I’m here, I’m with you and I’m not going anywhere.”

Elsword sniffles and nods. “I love you, Ain, I love you, so so much,” he cries, sobbing loudly. “I’m so so sorry, I love you and I won’t forget you, ever again!”

“Yeah, yeah I know, Elsword. I love you too. It’s fine, we’re together again. I promise, I’ll be by your side forever.”

* * *

Their neighbor decides to invite himself over, blabbering on and on about something that not only Elesis and Elsword, but also Ara and Ain, tuned out.

No one is comfortable.

Ain floats behind Els, looking at the man — Richman, Elesis calls him — with disdain. He glances at Elsword, back at Richian, back at Elsword, and then back at Richian. A plan forms in his mind.

The magnets on the fridge spell out 'don’t forget keys’, with a bunch of letters scattered all around, but not for long.

Elesis snaps back to attention when Richian’s face pales, one of his heavily ringed hands coming up to, tremblingly, point behind her.

“T—Th—Th—The magnets!“ he exclaims, voice jittery and full of panic. "It's— It’s spelling something!”

Elsword glances over to see Ain rearranging the magnets with a devious look.

’ **LEAVE** ’

’ **I’LL KILL YOU** ’

The boy looks back at Richian, catching onto Ain’s plan easily. “Yeah, it does that sometimes,” he says, winking at Ain.

“W—Who…” Richian steps back, almost tripping over his own feet. “Who did you wink at…?”

“Oh, no one.”

“T—There’s a ghost here! It— It wants to kill me!” Richian screams, voice somehow even more annoying.

But Elesis catches on as well, and then Ain moves over and closes the window, she takes the opportunity of it slamming shut to tell Richian, “Why don’t you stay for tea?”

“N-No no no, I h—have to go!” the man stammers out, turning on his heels and storming out of their house.

Barely a second after he’s gone, Ain is moving the magnets again, this time to spell out ’ **SUCKER** ’.

Elsword laughs, holding onto his stomach when it starts aching from all the laughter. “That was—” he wheezes out, brushing tears out of his eyes, “That was brilliant!”

“Thank you, Ain,” Elesis nods at the fridge.

Ain is already at the table, though, but the sentiment is still appreciated. “I’m glad you liked my haunting. Can you tell Elesis it’s okay?” the ghost asks. He’s enjoying how amused Elsword looks, tears still leaking from his eyes. It’s the only kind of tears he ever wants to see in Elsword’s eyes.

“Ah— Sis, Ain says it was no biggie,” Elsword says, and then they all settle to get dinner, equal parts amused and relieved.

* * *

It takes some time for them to get used to the fact that there is a real, although non-malevolent ghost living with them.

Ain is nice, and doesn’t mess with them often. (When he does, it’s usually because Els goaded him into it.)

Ara finds a note floating in front of the entrance door, reminding her that she forgot her phone on the charger. With a sheepish smile, she runs to get it, thanking Ain as she goes to work.

Elsword doesn’t walk to school alone anymore. Ain is always by his side, patiently silent whenever people are around so Elsword wouldn’t get stared at for talking to himself.

His exercise books are much fuller these days — not with just notes, but Ain makes him pay attention to the classes too. Most of the margins, however, are completely filled with doodles, both his and Ain’s.

To be as discreet as possible, Ain always takes ahold of his hand (or through it; it’s a weird feeling). Surprisingly enough, where one would expect a ghost’s touch to be cold, Ain’s is warm, unlike holding someone’s hand, and yet so similar. It makes Elsword’s hand tremble.

Ain’s doodling style is completely different from Els’, as is his handwriting, and the couple of notes left about are vastly out of place in between Elsword’s chicken scrawl of a handwriting. Ain’s is almost like calligraphy, even to the point of being illegible from time to time, but Elsword and the girls have gotten used to seeing and reading it, and it isn’t a big deal anymore.

Though most of the notes are by the boy himself, replies to Ain’s comments that he had to write down instead of saying them in the middle of the classes.

In the evening, when Elesis comes home from her coaching, all worn out and slouching from tiredness, there’s a protein shake waiting for her on the counter.

Ain is a part of their family — officially now that they are all aware of him.

**Author's Note:**

> sticks mleggy out real far. give me the validation thats the only reason i crosspost


End file.
